Ram Gopal Varma praised my villainous act - Vikramjeet Virk

Meet the brand new villain of the south Indian movie industry – Vikramjeet Virk. Standing at six feet three inches tall and weighing a little under 100 kgs, Vikramjeet’s super broad shoulders and muscular military arms are enough to send fear spiraling down your spine. But talk to him and you will know that Vikramjeet is a far cry from his intimidating on-screen persona. A gentle giant in real life, Vikramjeet comes across as a soft spoken and humble Punjabi munda who is sincere in his attempts of making it big in the film industry.

For the moment, Vikramjeet is the flavor of the season down south. The dashing dude is being lapped up by producers to play the menacing villain in south movies. From Telugu to Kerala, Vikramjeet has starred as the main negative lead in mega budget movies opposite southern superstars. His latest movie Heart Attack starring Telugu star Nithiin and Bollywood actress Adah Sharma who is debuting in Telugu with this movie, is currently running to packed houses in Andhra Pradesh. The movie also earned Vikramjeet rave reviews from none other than Ram Gopal Varma. “Ramu sir watched the movie and then told my director that he really liked my performance.”

Elaborating on his role in the movie, Vikramjeet says, “The name of my character is Makrand Kaamati. He is an out and out baddie and is involved in supplying drugs, women and all other illegal things.”

Vikramjeet’s role was carved out by the movie’s director Puri Jagganadh for whom the actor is all praises.

Says Vikram, “Puri Sir is an outstanding director and producer. Because of his vision, this movie has been shot in exotic locales like Spain. The kind of cinematography and scale of direction that he has employed is definitely international.”

For the uninitiated, Puri is the same person who helmed the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Bbuddah…Hoga Tera Baap.

Apart from Telugu, Vikramjeet has also forayed into Malayalam film industry. And his maiden venture there was opposite none other than Malayalam superstar Mohanlal in Casanova. Here too, he played the main villain. Talking about his overall experience in Southern movie industry, Vikramjeet says, “It’s been really great. The style of filmmaking there now has totally evolved. They have grown into international standards. Gone are the days when you used to see funky colours and other stereotypical elements associated with South Indian movies. Today they travel far across the globe to shoot.”

For a Punjabi who can barely understand or speak any South Indian languages, one would think Vikramjeet must have faced a lot of problems on sets while mouthing his dialogues. But that was never the case. Explaining on why not knowing the language was never a handicap, Vikramjeet says, “South filmmakers can talk very well in Hindi and English. So they made me understand my dialogues well in Hindi. Plus the treatment and love that south Indians give is really warm.”

It’s every Indian actor’s dream to finally make it big in the mother of all industries in India – Bollywood. Though Vikramjeet has already debuted in Bollywood with Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Khelein hum jee jaan sey, big roles have eluded him. But that hasn’t discouraged this actor who is currently in talks with a few filmmakers for a couple of projects. “I will soon do a couple of Bollywood projects. I am still in talks. So perhaps it’s a bit too early to reveal,” says Vikramjeet who doesn’t mind establishing as the next big villain of Bollywood akin to the late Amrish Puri.

While our celluloid heroes’ love lives become matter of national gossip, villains are often spared the rod by the media. So we thought of digging a bit into Vikramjeet’s heart. When asked if he has someone special, a smiling Vikramjeet says, “No yaar. I am single. I hope to get a tall, decent looking and simple girl, sometime soon.”